CONCERNED BY SITUATION IN SOUTHERN SUDAN, UNITED NATIONS URGES DONORS TO RESPOND URGENTLY TO HUMANITARIAN APPEAL
Press Release
IHA/656
CONCERNED BY SITUATION IN SOUTHERN SUDAN, UNITED NATIONS URGES DONORS TO RESPOND URGENTLY TO HUMANITARIAN APPEAL
19980428 NEW YORK, 27 April (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nations is deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in Southern Sudan, specifically in the Bahr el Ghazal region, where an estimated 350,000 people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and in the area of Bentiu in Unity state, where an estimated 22,000 people are in need of assistance, and malnutrition rates are reported to be as high as 31 per cent.Operation Lifeline Sudan has been attempting to deliver food and relief supplies to the affected populations in those areas. The United Nations is encouraged by the clearance granted by the Government of Sudan to the Operation to deploy one additional C-130 aircraft, operating out of Lokichokio, Kenya, thus increasing the delivery capacity by approximately 1,000 tons per month.
Donors are requested to respond urgently and generously to the 1998 United Nations consolidated appeal which is seeking $109.3 million to meet the food and non-food needs of war and drought-affected Sudanese. To date, $7.85 million have been received, constituting 7.2 per cent of the appeal requirements.
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